The following invention relates to the storage of photographic film negatives, and in particular, to a storage system for storing photographic film negatives in which positive images are used to identify the subject matter of the stored photographic film negatives.
After a roll of photographic film has been developed and the photographs printed, the photographic film negatives are usually cut into short strips and placed into sleeves to protect the negatives from damage. The sleeves are typically made from a transparent, thin plastic that can be easily folded, with each sleeve comprising an elongated rectangular pouch. Several standard machines are used by film processors to load the photographic film into sleeving material and to cut the film negatives to the correct length. When using such standard machines, the sleeving material comes off a large plastic roll and once the entire film has been cut and each negative strip has been inserted into a sleeve, that length of sleeving material is detached from the roll. The sleeved negatives are then folded, placed in a package containing the printed photographs, and are given to the customer along with the printed photographs.
A problem with the use of such a film negative storage system is that it is difficult to determine which printed photograph is represented in each negative. When it is desired to make a duplicate of a photograph, many negatives must be taken out of the sleeves in which they are stored and held up to the light to be scrutinized before it can be determined which negative represents the desired photograph. When handled in such a manner, fingerprints are often deposited on the negatives and the negatives can become scratched or otherwise damaged, resulting in poor quality reprints or enlargements.
In addition, when more than one set of photographic negatives is stored in one place, such as a box or drawer, the sleeves containing each set of negatives often get separated from the printed photographs to which they correspond. This makes it even more difficult to find the negative that corresponds to a particular photograph.
To aid a consumer in organizing the negatives and the corresponding printed photographs, index prints have been developed. Index prints contain positive images of each photographic image that appears on the film. The goal of index prints is to aid the consumer in identifying which photographs appear on a particular negative. Problems arise, however, because consumers often do not keep the index print with the negatives. Once the negatives become separated from the index print, the same problems develop regarding being unable to determine which photograph was created from which negative.
Index prints may be created by scanning a photographic film and collecting each image from the film so that it can be exposed onto photosensitive paper, much like the way each individual photograph is made. Index prints may also be printed on some type of non-photosensitive material, most often paper or plastic. These index prints are created by scanning a film and collecting digital image data, which can then be sent to a printer. Ink jet printers are commonly used because they offer the greatest flexibility of the type of material used when creating an index print. A draw back of ink jet printing is that it is much slower than other types of printing. However, using other printers, such as a laser printer, may reduce the options available for the type of paper or plastic used in creating the index print.
Index prints have been created that also form a storage system for the film negatives, making it easier to find the negative that corresponds to a particular photographic print. One such negative storage system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Ser. No. 5,801,852, Positive Sleeving System for Photographic Negatives, filed on Jun. 7, 1995 and assigned to Pakon, Inc.
A continuing need exists in the art for index prints printed on faster and more efficient printers. In addition, flexibility in the type of material used to create the index print is desired. If the index prints can be attached or affixed to a storage system for the photographic film negatives in such a way that the positive image on the index print corresponds to the images on the film negative, such a film storage system would be a significant improvement in the art.